Zyuganov said in remarks broadcast by state-run Rossiya 24 channel that instead of ensuring each of the five presidential candidates get equal treatment, the “huge and corrupt government machinery… worked only for Putin”.

“We don’t recognise these elections as legitimate,” he said.

Putin got 58.3 percent of the vote at Sunday’s presidential elections, exit polls showed, that is enough to hand him outright victory.

His nearest rival, Zyuganov, took 17.7 percent of the vote, state pollster VTsIOM said.